Nico Rosberg claimed victory at the British Grand Prix in an extraordinarily eventful race that illustrated Formula One in its greatest and most negative light, with five tyre failures marring what was a spectacular race.

Lewis Hamilton was the first victim of a high speed delamination as he led the race in the opening stages and handed the lead to a fast starting Sebastian Vettel. He had managed to jump Rosberg from the start line and inherited the lead on lap eight following Hamilton’s misfortune.

There were further tyre failures in the following laps for Felipe Massa, Jean-Eric Vergne, Esteban Gutierrez and for Sergio Perez in the closing laps. This heaps even more pressure on Pirelli and questions the fragility of the tyres that are unable to cope with the loads of a Formula One car.

It was particularly dangerous in the case of Vergne and Perez who both had drivers close behind them at the time of the explosion. Grosjean and Alonso were those in the tow of the respective cars and were lucky in avoiding contact with the flailing rubber.

After Hamilton’s issue, Vettel controlled the race and looked to be increasing his Championship lead with another Silverstone Red Bull victory as Rosberg sat a couple of seconds behind. However a transmission failure with ten laps remaining saw his RB9 grind to a halt on the pit straight and bring out the safety car, prompting a flurry of late pit-stops and a seven lap sprint to the finish.

During this final phase the podium finishes had each opted to pit for fresh tyres, both in the hope of scoring some strong points whilst also negating the chances of a further tyre failure.

As the Safety Car pulled in at the end of the fourty-fifth lap Rosberg had a clear road ahead and on a fresh set of the hard compound tyre he was expected to drive away with Webber and Alonso being held up within the pack.

But with the two on near-new option tyres they carved through the cars ahead and Alonso cut Vettel’s Championship lead to just twenty-one points.

Webber got to within 7/10ths of a second of the race win and may well have taken a popular victory in his final British Grand Prix should there have been one more lap. But this was not to be and Rosberg took his third career victory in a race that became as much a battle of attrition as it was a show of speed.

Following Hamilton’s tyre failure, the sister Mercedes had to complete nearly a full lap to return to the pits and he dropped to the back of the field. From there and under the radar the pole-man edged up in to the points and found himself in a strong position heading in to the final sprint.

He latched on to the back of Alonso and followed him through a number of cars, including Raikkonen, Sutil and Ricciardo, and the Brit ended the race just 6/10ths behind Alonso and the final spot on the podium.

Completing the top six were strong drives by Raikkonen and Massa, having differing races but scoring some good points. Raikkonen kept his nose clean and sat in second place following the final Safety Car period but he questioned his team’s choice to not pit him as Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari did and this turned out to be his downfall. He had nothing to answer the cars on fresher tyres and eventually slipped to fifth place.

Massa, meanwhile, suffered a tyre failure in a very similar place to Hamilton as he entered the Wellington Straight towards Brooklands and saw himself drop down the order from a strong start in which he sat in fifth place. And like Hamilton he raced through the field to take sixth place and boost his confidence after a difficult run of recent races.

Tomorrow’s edition of Driver of the Day is set to split opinions as the Force India pair of Adrian Sutil and Paul Di Resta also had a good outing for the Silverstone based team. Sutil was sat in third place after Hamilton dropped back, but he stayed out too long on his second set of medium tyres and allowed Raikkonen and Alonso through as he pushed to limit the race to two stops.

He eventually came home in seventh, like Raikkonen losing out to Webber, Alonso and Hamilton in the late stages of the race.

Di Resta, starting from last place following an underweight car in qualifying, took ninth place as he avoided the large amount of Pirelli debris that littered the circuit.

The Force India pair sandwiched Daniel Ricciardo for Toro Rosso, another driver to deliver a good drive on the day. During the race he was involved in battles with the two Lotus cars and Fernando Alonso – doing no harm to his hopes of a seat in the parent team next year.

389 comments

Is about time for the CEO of the italian company to grow a pair of balls and tell Whiting,Todt etc etc that they will make tires strong enough for just one pit stop race.

If a driver gets killed is Pirelly whom will be blamed.

It makes me laugh when all the "genius" that are on f1 forums talk nonsense about Pirelli,even when tires were meant to last the whole GP (therefore were extra hard) we saw incidents. Is it too difficult to understand for those genius what a big challenge is to make tires that have to last just 15 laps in order to fit FIA requirements?

Let's get rid of the aero madness and all those stupids front wings so cars can run close to each other and therefore overtake,because in case people forget THAT is the reason for these ridiculous tires.

The FIA din't request tyres made that will explore or delaminate. It is Pirelli's incompetence here that is limiting. I'm not absolving FIA or Mr.B. But, Pirelli should take most of the blame here.

Even FIA insisted that changes can be made ONLY on safety grounds - they din't deny Pirelli's request for change in construction. Pirelli din't have the backbone to accept and call that changes are needed for SAFETY. Or, they are incompetent enought to see whether SAFETY is a compromise or not. They better not showup next year, instead, lets bring back Michelin...

It's clear that Todt had these tires made to order. It's clear that Lotus and Ferarri blocked the steel belted specification from being used in Silverstone. It's also clear that there was a problem with one of the curbs.

Now we can look forward of a week of posturing and politicking while Todt, Ferarri and Lotus try to turn attention away from themselves and onto Perelli for political reasons. Expect exactly zero talk about curbs or under filling tires.

The steel belted tyres were used. There's a quote from Button on the BBC site that says the problem is that bits of 100ºC plus rubber with steel in them are flying at the drivers behind the punctured tyre.

I am 40 years old, I grew up watching F1 with ZERO pit stops and I loved it. For me there is nothing wrong with that but nowdays it looks like if there are not 100 overtakings per race there is not emotion. Too bad that FIA has no balls to do what every single technical consultant say about the lack of overtakes without aids: get rid of the aero.

Sure, when there is more pitstops or rather more different strategies used, races is more exciting. It is more unpredictable and interesting if one team can use a 3 stop strategy while another team uses a one stop strategy for example.

If every team just do a one stop strategy then it means that all of the cars, uses the tyres the same way, and they will basically pit at the same time and just keep on running in the same order after qualifying. It would be much like the processional races we used to have. You need variation.

This race was much more exciting then then the last two races. The exploding tyres just needs to be fixed.

My question was sarcastic. more pitstops do NOT equal more entertainment. It is a sport, not an entertainment show.

The 100m sprint is over in less than 10sec; I don't see people calling for it to be made more entertaining by having the participants stopping in the middle of the race to change their shoes because they have been specifically designed to fall apart after 30m.

Honestly if I were Pirelli I wouldn't even come back next season. I've never seen as big of a PR nightmare because of what the FIA asked them to do with these tires and now they haven't even been able to switch the compounds because of the teams not unilaterally agreeing to do it. This has to be absolutely sickening for the company.

It's not the FIAs fault that Pirelli don't manage to create tyres that can be driven hard AND fall over the cliff after a certain amount amount of time without disintegrating and without having a temperature window the size of a CD-ROM slot.

And it's not the FIAs fault that Pirelli are obviously incapable of learning from the data they're gathering during races to create a proper tyre.

Pirelli failed to create Formula-1-worthy tyres for three years in a row now and that's not the FIAs fault. All the FIA wanted was about 2 to 3 stops per race, they did not ask for tyre-blast-disaster or sissy tyres that must be handled like eggshells.

Michelin, back in the days called the cars in, when they saw a problem. In Silverstone Pirelli did nothing alike.

And even before Silverstone Pirelli chose to play their severe security problem down. This is irresponsible and does not deserve a new contract for 2014.

Formula One needs Bridgestone, Michelin or GoodYear back, Pirelli have proven to be incapable and irresponsible. Enough is enough. We've had it!

The real problem is that with so much of the technology being standardised and having far greater reliability than ever before the tyres are now the only element that has any variability.

The engines need to last 4 races which is much easier with today's gearboxes.

The gearboxes need to last 5 races and paddle shift has meant nobody misses a gear and therefore gets overtaken as in the past.

The rules have been so stable they are well understood and have little room for error (unless you are McLaren of course).

The tracks have become neutered by losing the gravel run off areas - so there is no penalty for leaving the track - it is far too easy to return. In the old days any car leaving the circuit was very lucky to get back racing and would lose several places if he did.

I agree the safety is needed but it has removed the element of chance. Yesterday was a wake up call for all in F1. Maybe we should have some kind of sensors on the kerbs that trigger a penalty for cars that insist on taking extreme lines over them. Until that happens the kerbs should be made even more severe - most drivers were warned several times to avoid the kerbs yesterday but continued to ride over them. If touching the inner edge a of kerb always meant losing a tyre they wouldn't go near them.

To be fair, without in season testing, all Pirelli had to use to develop the tires was a 2010 Renault, which even in it's day was easy on tires, so nowhere near able to put the energy through the tires that the fastest of the currant cars do. When Pirelli realized this and tried to change the construction of the tires, which requires the agreement of all the teams, Lotus said no.

That's why I think there needs to be in season testing, so the tire manufacturer can keep up with the currant state of the cars. Bridgestone did it by making tires strong enough to last an entire race, but now Pirelli are being asked to make tires that degrade quickly.

To make tires that that are strong enough for currant cars, yet will degrade quickly, is a fine line to straddle when you're not allowed to test with a representative car.

Quite correct - we expect each team to develope their cars during the season, with updates at virtually every race. So why shouldn't the tyres upgrade/develop along with the increased pace of the cars? This of course would require in season testing in current spec cars.

NO they are not. That is pure hokum that is being perpertuated ad infinitum by Pirelli and supporter of these nonsense tyres.

The FIA NEVER gave Pirelli any "specification" to make a specific tyre (i challenge anyone to show proof of this). What the FIA said was to make tyres that generated more exictment in the manner of more pit-stops, thereby adding a bit more unpredictability of the "spectacle".

Pirelli delivered this in 2011, and fine tuned them in 2012. OPirelli then decided, on their own accord, and in their own very words, to make the 2013 tyres even more "marginal"; because the teams had worked them end toward the end of the season never mind we had the best races of 2012 toard the end of the season). Why they did that,i would never know. They were NEVER asked to change, fiddle, or marginalise the 2012 tyres, the FIA, the teams, the drivers, the fans, nor by anyone else for that matter.

They did not ask Pirelli to make tyres that degrade easily, that driver cannot push on, that delaminate in free practice and races, that puncture regularly, that are extremely suceptible to operating temp, or that are good for only a single lap (Chinese GP).

So they deserve ALL the flak they are getting, as this debacle is entirely of their own making.

The FIA had specified they wanted 2 to 3 stops per race, delamination, explosion, small temperature windows and "do not drive too fast or your tires are gone after 3 laps" was not part of the order, was it?

In the same time, isn't strange how out of the sudden, Mercedes's tyre problem have dissapeared?

In Spain they dropped from 1st and 2nd to 8th and 12th. Here, from 1st and 2nd they got 1st and 4th. Lewis had a good chance of winning this if not for the tyre failure. That would've given them a strong 1st and 3rd if Vettel would've stayed in 2nd.

The temperatures were pretty high and Mercedes must be rly happy the heat and headlines are on Pirelli and not on their tyre wear.

Yeah-- it's almost like Mercedes has been aware they've had a tire problem, and have been working to fix it all season long. No, wait, they had this problem last year, too.

So it's only taken them 15 months to crack it.

I also seem to recall they had tire issues in Monaco and Canada, so it's a good thing they spent all that time in an illegal test.

Meanwhile, McLaren announces they did a "photo shoot" where they tested new parts, and nobody blinks. Ferrari admits they did two tire tests for Pirelli, but unlike Mercedes, Ferrari ran the test-- and nobody cares.

If Mercedes were still 7th or 8th in the championship, no one would care-- but since they're the one team that looks to be able to challenge Red Bull this season (Constructor's, where the money is), everyone's screaming foul.

Mercedes certainly seemed to have improved but whether it had anything to do with the 3 day test is debatable. Remember that they were testing prototype 2014 tyres not current 2013 tyres. It certainly feasible that they have improved through natural evolution and developement but of course it won't stop all the conspiracy theories that it was all due to some secret magical test.

"Remember that they were testing prototype 2014 tyres not current 2013 tyres."

How can they say that if they also state they didnt know which tyre was on the car at any moment.

It is more than a coincidence that suddenly Mercedes car has become the most gentle on these tires? Look how Hamilton was able to attack after the last safety car. He did not make a pitsstop (as did Raikkonen). The Lotus previously was most gentle on tires but was a sitting duck for Alonso/Webber who had fresh tires. And Hamilton with only 2 (!) pitsstops was able to drive into the DRS of Alonso !!

Rosberg stayed in touch without the safety car. Hamilton had a second or two lead after 7 laps. Mercedes most certainly had the pace this weekend. Hamilton would not have finished in 4th without the safety car help, that is true, but I think he would have won had there been no tire issues.

Just look at Canada 2011. Dead last (24th not 22nd) to first in LESS THAN HALF RACE DISTANCE in atrocious conditions while lapping 1-2 seconds faster than everyone else and all we got from the Button bashers/Hamilton fanboys was that he only did it cause of the safety cars.

Now Hamilton goes from 22nd on only lap 8 to 4th and he gets nothing but praise for a 'fantastic' drive!

I wonder if Kimi hasn't made up his mind about going to RB next season yet. After Lotus's strategy today, I would take my chances with any other team, were I Kimi. Lotus are so laid-back that they are starting to seem lazier than Iceman himself. Without the talent.

No as many have said he asked to come in- they said no. He was furious after the race ( in Kimis way). I wish people would leave that line alone now it's old news. Im still angry at Lotus stupidly- I was jumping up and down when Rosberg came in and Lotus not!.. Very, very dumb.. And I just knew it was all over when Alonzo and Webber did the same !..

"Hello Red Bull I hear you have some nice drink - can you throw in some magnums into the fridge too.. I will come over in 2014 !"

He questioned the decision not to pit the lap after the others pitted, but was told it was to late and the team thought they would be okay. That Red Bull seat looks pretty good to him tonight, I'd bet.

2. If teams like Lotus had blocked the move to change the tires to a different construction, then now they have to agree.

3. The secret test seems to have some good effect on Mercedes besides Pirelli favoring the conservative choices that helped them to have a good race with teams like Ferrari or Lotus now having no advantage in either quali or race.

4. Raikkonen should seriously consider moving to RedBull as even Webber wins more GPs than Raikkonen in a Lotus and Raikkonen is a bit faster than Webber.

The teams did tell their driers to drive more safely. It was the drivers who chose to repeat their flagrant rule breaking and continue driving off the circuit at bends where they knew tyres were being wrecked.

It is not Pirelli's fault if they were asked to make radical tyres.

Added to that it really is time drivers paid a penalty for going off circuit. Maybe Silverstone gave an extreme way to do this but it worked. The drivers only have themselves to blame for putting themselves and others in danger.

If drivers must be allowed to leave the circuit without physical danger we should introduce another way of penalising them. Maybe we should have sensors that trigger an extended pit stop for cutting across kerbs.

I don't think its obvious at all that the test has made a big impact on Merc performance. Only the team would know the reasons why the tyre wear was better and its possible that it was as a result of development which they are entitled to do. Mercs certainly didn't look stellar at Canada and that was after the test.

Merc seem to be in a good place right now. Shame part of it is down to an illegal test. 2 wins and solid pace from Lewis in Canada in 3 races following the test. Brawn alluded to mystery people in the team who he didn't want poached ... I smell a smokescreen. Wolf didn't give a succinct answer when asked the same after the race.

Monaco suited their car granted but here in warm weather it's an amazing turnaround from Barcelona. They also have knowledge on next years tyres and throwing the kitchen sink at 2014 ... Can get away with breaking rule(s) and only suffer reprimands. Feels like the changing of the guard right now.

Ok, instead of 'loop hole' how about 'calculated risk'. I agree they cheated. They saw an opportunity, weighed up the potential outcome and decided to take it. Much like any other team. Red Bull saw the opportunity and decided not to risk it. On other occasions they have risked it ('hole' vs 'slot' in the floor, engine mapping, diffuser issues, flexi wings etc etc). All teams are the same, it's part of F1.

I think it depends on whether the driver leaving the pits or the driver arriving to pits is at an disadvantage. In this case, it was Alonso himself who lost time. If it had been Grosjean who had to slow down, or even stop, to avoid collision, then penalty for Alonso would have been appropriate.

yes, that was odd... I also thought it odd Charlie did not call the race with 5 laps to go when Perez had the 4th tire of the day explode. However, Alonso would have been 7th and not 3rd at the time.... hmmmmm?!

If this was really the case, then the kerbs would have been changed a long time ago. This is Silverstone, one of the most raced on tracks in the world, not the streets of Singapore that get raced on for one weekend each year. I'm not saying the kerbs didn't play any part, but discounting the Pirelli rubber just doesn't wash to the point of it being another blow-out.

Seb, Ros and Alonso all had damaged tyres, but they were fortunate that theirs didn't blow up unlike the drivers you mentioned. This doesn't have anything to do with driving style, the tyres were too fragile. It's simply unsafe period.

Your comparing apples and pears more or less. F1 cars will carry more fuel at the start so a lot more weight, have more load laterally and vertically, have different racing lines, more speed, different tyre pressures and camber, more heat to contend with. You can't say because it didn't happen in other races it isn't possible. There are clearly some issues with Pirelli but so have other manufacturers had these, Michelin had 4 or 5 failures in spa 2004 I think. Just think that we should wait to see if there are mitigating factors before hanging Pirelli.

Yep surely doesn't help ... Teams are quite prepared to go on the limit of safety with camber and pressures but then jump on Pirelli when things go wrong. Who knows what teams are doing and whether it contributes to failures.

Your right about the steel belts, didn't see any ... Surely they wouldn't change anything other than the bonding without telling the teams ...

I would agree with you last year. But whitmarsh told Perez to get his elbows out two races in. He did 4 stops in Malaysia and Barcelona, 1 more than button. Definitely driving aggressively in my opinion

The owners of Silverstone have confirmed that since 2009, "SEVERAL THOUSAND" cars have negotiated those same kerbs without incident. They went further to accuse Bernie, the FIA and Pirelli of bring F1 into dispute... Bang on the money if you ask me!

Its pretty silly to blame the kerbs. What next will we be blaming? The white road marks?

Do you know for certain that nothing has changed to the kerbs for decades? What about the all the added drains added to some kerbs that sky alluded to in the race. Not saying its the cause, but Kimi says its quite possible.

I saw a lot of rule breaking during the race, unsafe releases, DRS use when not allowed and no one got penalized - pretty sure the stewards were very lenient across the whole board for the race - stop trying to make it look like they were playing favorites.

Agree 100%. What would be the penalty for a Marussia? If they reprimanded him it's true and the punishment is soft. He deserved a race win today but given that he did break the rules, well, we should be seeing more than a telling off.

Ferrari, Lotus, and Force India tyre advantage are on the super-soft and soft tyres because their cars don't work the tyres too hard. Mercedes and Red Bull like the medium and hard tyres because their cars work the tyres very hard. Pirelli brought the medium and hard tyres the 2013 F1 British Grand Prix and what two teams dominated qualifying and the race? Pirelli has chosen to go very conservative on their tyre selections for the rest of the season to please Red Bull and Mercedes.

I don't know what race you were watching, but I didn't see a lot of tyre management during the race. I saw a lot of drivers driving flat-out.

Pirelli chose to go conservative to protect their own reputation, having taken a public battering since Barcelona. Imagine how bad the tyre wear of the softs or supersofts would have been. No one was going flat out for fear of touching a curb and getting a puncture, there were countless radio warnings to that effect.

I was pleased when Vettel went out. Not because I dislike him or Red Bull as they are both thoroughly deserving Drivers and Constructors champions. I think people like to see any sporting event go to the wire especially so in a protracted series indicative of motorsport. Truth told, Vettel and Red Bull probably deserve both titles again this year for doing the best job but I for one don't want to see that decided for certain before we get to Sao Paulo.

What a race, but sadly for all the wrong reasons! This Pirelli tyre issue is blowing out for F1 and Pirelli brands. A lot would say not to blame Pirelli 100%, that they are just doing what they were asked for by the F1 sport heads. But this is really embarassing for them. Seems to me like a fundamental issue with construction/safety.

I can only hope they can do something to save themselves out of this mess (with or without F1 managing committee).

Good race, with a dash to victory towards the end after the SC period.

Pirelli were NEVER asked to provide these particular tyres (2013). They went off their own back to make the 2012 tyres more "marginal". I don't know why people perpertuate this myth that they are only doing what they were "asked" to do.

If the Michelin tires were dangerous to use during the Indianapolis farce of 2005, I wonder how many cars will now turn into the pit lane after the formation lap at the start in Germany.

Watching the HD telecast, one could see Vergne's tire start to shred on the inside shoulder (when looking at the car from the front). One thin strip flicked up, and then wham! the whole tire went to pieces.

It does concern me. I just predict than none will have the testicular fortitude to stage a strike. Do you seriously think that Alonso would peel off into the pits if he saw Vettel do so? No way! 25 points up for grabs baby! Unfortunately this is not the old days where the race leader put his hand up and everyone stopped.

I was intrigued how Alonso lost so much time on his 2nd stop. Also he pitted before the last SC!!! Can you please check if he add any problem or was just Ferrari not kind to tires for the first time this year (in Alonso's hands).

I don't recall even seeing Hamilton after the race so how can you be sure he struggled to congratulate him? Its certainly reasonable that Lewis would have been gutted after the race realising "what could have been". As for his comment in the interview - is he wrong?

He was interviewed on the BBC, live, just after the race ceremonies, when they began concluding the program, and whilst they were interviewing Ross Brawn -and they switched to an interview with Hamilton, so I don't know why you didn't see it ?

Rosberg won because he was where he was, to take advantage of the situations that arose - and the win wasn't gifted to him by Hamilton or the Mercedes team, or made easier for him by them.

Certainly Hamilton would have felt gutted - but why degrade Rosberg's win by saying what he did?

His recovery was spectacular. I know it was aided by two safety cars, but yet it was phenomenal. I was hoping for 10th place for him at best, but bringing home the car at 4th place was great considering that his tyers were much older than those around him. Lewis is my DOD.

Hahaha driver of the day? After all the gifts given to merc, car of the 2nd half of the championships would be a more appropriate term. Its not yet there as of the moment but come germany, Ross maneuver will come to full play.

@ Robinson...so let me get this straight...any driver that leads a race, has a blow-out within the first few laps and drops to last, then fights his way back to 4th by the end of the race, is by your point of view not something that makes up a 'Driver of the Day'?

Would it have been such a spectacular race without the tyre failures? I thought not knowing whose left rear was going to explode next added a certain drama to proceedings.

I'm just relieved no one was injured and that the race wasn't black flagged for safety concerns. I had a real concern that it would be 15 laps in. After last year's problems with drainage an outcome like that would have been truly awful for Silverstone.

The tyres failure were ridiculous and unsafe, which is unacceptable but you're correct. The return of a high degree of unreliability to the race, like in decades past, certainly added an extra level of tension. And just when you thought the risk had eased off, bang, out goes Perez! And of course we also had a classic engine/gearbox failure with Vettel.

An exciting race but the tyre failures are a worry. Given that they were all left-rear failures and that we've never seen something like this before it makes me wonder if this was something to do with the circuit.

Well, the type of circuit - whether it's one or a combination of successive high speed, high load corners with hot temperatures, or the kerbs - clearly caused the failures. But the tyres should be able to cope with such conditions, not that the track should be changed. It's like the Michelin Indianapolis fiasco.

3) No, Turbo engines in the 80s had far more horsepower and wheelspin, skirted ground effect cars had similar levels of downforce. These days less data was recorded, science and engineering was less advanced that it is today.

4) It was not the FIAs fault, they ordered degradation, not disintegration and they did not order very small temperature windows either.

Agree totally Quade - the FIA must take full responsibility for this damn "engineered entertainment" and Pirelli must show greater Integrity and say sorry- we don't know what we're giving you if we keep making tyres in the edge And we are not jeaopardising our image lime this."

Fact is the FIA haven't given Pirelli adequate tools to design their tyres with relevant tests with current cars, etc. The likes of Bridgestone and Michelin had ample testing time in their day. They had it easy.

And as for Pirelli, well they're at fault for going too aggressive and experimental this year, and underestimated the improvements in the cars and the increased stresses they're generating.

Ok, all I better hear from Pirelli is "sorry - we'll fix it". This is not the first time this year and Pirelli have blamed these failures in their ridiculous tissue paper tyres on everything but themselves.

Plenty of other races were held this weekend and throughout the year - it's not the track guys, it really isn't. It wasn't the fault of the weather, the kerbs or the evil pixies that live in and around Northampton.

Pirelli have set back safety in F1 20 years. They put the drivers and the Marshalls at risk over and over again this year.

Yes they were told to 'spice up the racing' by misguided fools who took the lazy shortcut to 'exciting' 'racing' but at the end of the day Pirelli manufacture this garbage and they should be bloody ashamed of themselves.

You couldn't give me a set of road Pirellis for free - they may be completely different but they're still made by these jokers.

Are people really still going to carry on defending them? Do we really now all need to 'go away and understand' the bloody obvious

Pirelli are to blame just as much as the FIA is to blame. As the teams are figuring out the "right" pressures to run the tires in to keep the tires from overheating, other issues are brought out. The curb likely accelerated the issue at this track. Pirelli produced the tire, so they are ultimately at fault, but there is a lot of politics at play. Pirelli produced a crap tire but are left with their heads up their hands tied at the moment. I put a lot of the blame on them, but feel sorry for them at the same time.

Even if Pirreli put out recommended limits on tire pressures due to safety pre-race, I doubt many teams would have followed them if they knew they could make the tires perform better otherwise. Remember when Red Bull was scolded for running too much camber a year or two back at Spa? Red Bull did so anyway.

The fast degrading tires has made for exciting races, in my opinion. Certainly there is an option for fast degrading -but safe- tires.

Why Alonso ?, Alonso is given too much credit for nothing, he did nothing special. Infact he was lucky people infront of him had car problems or where send to the back of the grid. When will people like you see that Alonso is really not that great like the media and his fans are trying to make him

Delamination? Tyres just exploded! They are driving with a time bomb. I wish I could lock Paul Hembery in the Tower of London.

I´m sorry I can´t congratulate Rosberg and Hamilton. This race showed that the so called Pirelli test was a Mercedes test. I know Hamilton had a problem too. But he finished in P4 after all. So Mercedes got P1 and P4. The car made a clear big step forward. I don´t believe the excellent result in this race it´s mere conincidence.

Ferrari did there secret test in the desert, yet nobody say's anything about it. And you congratulate Alonso ?, for what exactly ?. Alonso has done nothing special, he was lucky as usual drivers infront of him where had car problems and where send to the back of the grid. And Alonso should be penaltilized for unsafe release yet he escaped. I really can't see what is so great about Alonso, Massa did far better than Alonso.

Mercedes also have data on the 2014 Pirelli tyres so their 2014 car should be very competitive. Congralutions to Lewis Hamilton for jumping ships at the right time. Not too long ago, people were calling him crazy for leaving McLaren. Looks like a brilliant move to me.

Mercedes has become the untouchable team in Formula 1. In-season testing with their 2014 car and their race drivers (using different helmets) during their secret...Oops! Sorry Ross, private test and all they basicly get is a slap on the wrist.

Nico Rosbery racing through yellow flags during the race and only getting a reprimand.

Mercedes are 2nd in the Constructors Championship and gaining on Red Bull.

-Rosberg disobeys yellows in race, keeps win (usually at least a time penalty is applied)

-Pirelli blowouts galore ie Silverstone 2013. This will take up all of the headlines which will divert attention away from Mercedes miraculous development of their tyre issues which have hampered them for 3 years...

They've had good race pace everywhere but Bahrain and Catalunya (very hot tracks), Paddy Lowe has turned the problems around. I can't remember the last time someone was stripped of a win (Spa 2008 maybe) and I'm sure I've seen lots of incidents like this.

What an eventful race ! Feel really bad for Hamilton and Massa. All the tire blowouts and gearbox failure reminds me of the uncertain 90's. We can add the spectacle of engine blowouts next year. Vettel's lucky streak had to end and it did today. Too bad Alonso could not capitalize enough due to poor qualy. What a remarkable last British GP for Webber. I will miss him next year. As usual the enthusiasm for racing in Britain is great. More European GPs please.

Mighty improvement from Mercedes. I really hope they can get in the title fight with a resurgent second half.

Mixed feelings about this one. The farce with the tyre explosions did at least lead to a sprint finish, though even that was just those who'd pitted and put new 'boots' on. The have-nots were just 'sitting ducks' as the haves went sailing past.

Hopefully the spectacle will lead to the partisan teams realising they need to put aside their petty concerns in the interests of the sport (and safety of their drivers), or maybe I'm just being optimistic. Next thing I'll believe the FIA will get off the fence and ask Pirelli to change the tyres.

Bit sharp though that concrete; how did that get past all the people that walked the track??? What were they looking at?

James et al, great commentary... I even forsook HD to listen to you and your colleagues {sigh red button} 😉

Very eventful indeed! Perhaps, now the various teams will agree to switch to the newly proposed Pirelli tires...It cannot be worse than the current breed! Too bad for Hamilton, though I believe that Vettel would have eventually passed him. I'm sorry for Vettel, but at least Alonso is now coming further into title contention - all the better for all of us, fans (two more laps and Webber would have, no doubt, passed him though). Should Ferrari find a way to regain little bit of form/pace, it'll be exciting as far as the championship is concerned with Raikkonen not far behind.

Big losers today are Hamilton who appeared to have the car to win today. It looks like Merc has the best if not the second best car in the field for sure now as they have made some strides on tire wear. I just do not know if it is enough to cure all of their wear issues.

Quote of the day: "I am standing in the Pirelli area and Paul Hembry is no where to be found..."from Will Buxton.

This marks the end of either Pirelli or these tires being used the rest of the year. Pirelli just cannot allow this to continue "debris" or not. The fact is it looks like the curbs were cutting the tires and that doesn't seem to be a problem from the past. So if past tires could survive these curbs why can't these new tires? The amazing part is that the FIA stepped in and kept the change from happening by demanding the teams agree. At least that is what is looks like from my perspective.

Ferrari deserves zero points from the day as they were the driving force in not changing the tires. This wasn't quiet the embarrassment of Indy 2005 but it was pretty dang close. F1 must be one of the most dysfunctional major businesses in the world. Yet they prove that having great content over comes much.

I think we can lay to rest the thoughts that Ferrari "understands" the tires better than anyone else. They got it right on 2 tracks other than that RBR and the rest of the field have at least caught up.

Masa was great today.

Webber seemed to have a ton of wheelspin on the start, not sure what caused this but there were others that had some wheel spin too. Just not to the extent that Webber did. Too bad for Mark because he might have won today had it not been for the start. Hopefully he will get his 10th career win before the season is over. Other than that great drive coming back as much as he did.

Smartest move of the day was Charlie Whiting calling out the safety car and ensuring the debris was cleaned off the track. Even with that we still had another tire failure.

De-lamination...or...Tire Explosion Shock and Awe? Seriously these tires are a safety issue. We clearly saw debris hitting Kimi's helmet. If a piece just of the car was broken off just a little larger it could have killed him or at least given him a concussion causing another wreck.

I wonder how much time Vettel's gearbox had on it? It will be interesting to learn what made it fail and if this will be an ongoing issue. These types of failures can be one off, or they can be real issue that lingers.

While I felt like Vettel would be sheepish about winning due to these tires I was disappointed he didn't. All in all I thought this was Hamilton's race to lose after the first lap. However I am not sure that is the case if there had been the other tire explosions and Vettel had not had the gearbox issue.

At the end of the day it was an exciting race that was more like NASCAR with better cars and better circuits.

Lastly, this was my first Silverstone GP. I am not sure I have even seen a lap on Youtube prior to this season and it was exciting. What a great circuit Silverstone is! The way it is set up you can really tell you are watching the fastest "road racing" cars on the planet. The obvious speed and maneuvering of an F1 car is beautiful thing to watch. If I had to compare it to say NASCAR it would be like comparing Cirque du Soleil to Hockey. Both exciting and dangerous but the former is elegant and inspiring while the later is hard work and fierce competition. Cirque is highly specialized while hockey is more brute force with a large dose of luck thrown in.

This guy is just ranting cos he has an issue with Ferrari. Lotus and Force India were first in not wanting revised tires and why should they side with it? They didn't get a secret 3 day test. In case nobody noticed the coded message "Kimi is faster than you" was used today... no one mentioned it though cos it wasn't Ferrari.

Perhaps there is no "perfect Formula" to make Formula One the Pinnacle of motor sports. We will all ways debate drivers, cars, rules, etc- that's what fans do. But should tires have this much of an impact on racing? No.

Btw Andrew, rightful place in autoracing is where you finish. No one has a claim on anything until the checker. For as long as F1 has existed rightful drivers had their spoils snatched from them in heartbreaking ways. Tires, transmission, engine, hydraulics, etc. Etc. Etc. Schumi 2006 anyone? Massa 2008? 🙂

Let's not be all PC, fair and righteous. Every nice guy doesn't get the girl, every ethical guy doesn't become a billionaire, and nothing is given in F1.

Also, I think there's a world of difference between teams suffering mechanical/operational problems like the ones you cite, and a mandatory single tyre supplier (that the teams are forced to use) not being able to produce tyres that can last a grand prix without nearly a quarter of the field suffering random failures. If it was just one car then fine, but when you have five tyre failures (more than in any single race I've ever seen in 20+ years, including the tyre war years when Goodyear/Bridgestone/Michelin were pushing the envelope far harder than now), it's not bad luck, it's negligence, and it's outside the drivers' and the teams' control.

And frankly, that's kind of irrelevant to your initial point, that I should somehow be grateful that Pirelli introduced this random and exceedingly dangerous element into the grand prix, in the same way I should be grateful to those senseless individuals who ran onto the circuit in Britain 2003 and Germany 2000 and "livened up" those races too.

(Notwithstanding the best racing was after the final safety car which was caused by Vettel's retirement, and had nothing to do with Pirelli).

That's right Bumpkin. I can't believe the outrage. Everyone should be over the moon and enjoying a Shakespearian quality GP. Tragedy, drama, betrayal. As it turns out in true Shakespeare fashion Nico put poison in Vettel's transmission at exacly midnight and Vettel was out on the track shaping the kerb at turn 4.

It did today but It depends on the circuit 🙂 I'm being a pedant. Generally agree though, these robberies are part of racing & are nothing new. I certainly feel for all those who lost out when the driving was storming. Of course. But that is racing, sometimes it favours you, sometimes it just don't.

If the race had played out like that then yes, by a mile. Seeing drivers' races compromised by something the team has done is bad enough, seeing them compromised by random tyre failures out of anyone's control is quite another.

(And needless to say it was hardly a foregone conclusion Vettel would have beaten Lewis, he was behind him and falling back when the puncture happened and Rosberg was keeping him very honest before his gearbox failed. Pirelli robbed us of a much better race than the one we got IMO).

Lewis Hamilton was plainly robbed today by Pirelli today. He had by far the best pace of anyone. He had a good 2 tenths per lap on Vettel in the supposedly better long-run car, and Nico really had no chance early on to match him. Even with a significantly damaged floor, he managed to drive his way from the bottom of the field to fourth and threaten for a podium on the last lap.

The rest of F1 better watch out. Lewis looks like he's found his form with a Mercedes that seems to have found its setup just as he's coming up on four circuits where he is devastatingly quick.

found his form? you are kidding right? merc found its setup? dear lord you are hilarious. Sorry my bad, i totally agree, they found what they want alright scouring through 1000 kms of basically free test.

I hear all these complaints from the pirelli test, and granted they have A LOT of substance. But you cannot take anything away from the drivers delivering. Lewis and Nico both drove a great race today, as did Mark and Fernando.

Illegal test aside, Hamilton was plainly faster than anyone else. It wasn't clear that the Merc was faster than the Red Bull today, as Vettel had no problem with Rosberg. But the bottom line is that Hamilton was the fastest guy in the field today, and he most certainly had his teammate beat fair and square.

The whole world knew for a while how worrisome the tyre issue has become. Yet, FIA is still waiting until someone is hurt seriously. This is a crime, and everyone who was trying to convince us how exciting races have become is complacent.

I think those silly razor kerbs have more to do with the tyre failures than a sub-par tyre itself.

Also found the BBC team putting the blame on Grosjean for the 1st corner incident pretty ignorant, given the very footage they were watching clearly shows he had to move to avoid Perez hitting him. Similar to Monaco 2012 actually, wherein he got a lot of flak for something he didn't cause.

Yes the guy makes stupid mistakes, but for heavens sake if he has not done anything wrong then lay off him. His race from then on was very fair and clean too.

Frustrating race in what's been a frustrating season for Romain. Despite some promise in early races, I fear he is struggling with the tyres more than Raikkonen. I do fear for his position in the team unless he "does a Massa" in the second half of the season.

For all that though totally agree with the sentiment expressed here; clearly Perez moved across on him and clearly Grosjean was boxed in. Maybe his movement was a fraction too aggressive but then so was Sergio's and Mark put himself in that position with the poor start so really don't think what happened was Grosjean's fault.

Yep - looked like a pure racing accident, too many cars on not enough track. Grosjean has certainly been at fault in the past, but I expect better from DC especially. I can't be the only person to think he has both his favourites and guys he sticks the boot into at times?

I couldn't agree more regarding your comments about the BBC and Grosjean. DC was particularly scathing, when it was clear Grosjean moved to avoid contact with Perez. If Grosjean stuck to his line an accident with Perez would have occurred. What was Grosjean supposed to do?

On the contrary, it was obvious that Grosjean was sandwiched between the non-starting Red Bull and a MacLaren.

From the long shots I saw, the little evasive twitch Romain made to his left should not have caused the wild detour Webber made.

Noticeable in interviews that the teams happy with the tyres up to now, Force India (Di Resta) and Lotus (Kimi), their drivers were more eager to tow the "Pirelli not to blame for tyre delaminations" line.

Talk about drama, subplots, surprises, carnage and hard racing, all rolled into one.

First off, well done to all drivers for displaying amazing amounts of courage for despite the tyre problems they kept on it and thankfully, no one got hurt. Hopefully Pirelli will get on top of this, preferably by bringing back the 2012 tyres.

Right, congratulations go out to Mercedes and Rosberg on what turned out to be a very fortunate race win, it was also good to see the team exhibiting strong race pace >>> which bonds well for the future.

Storming drives from the likes of Webber, Lewis, Alonso, Massa, Di Resta, Sutil, Perez and Ricciardo, they sure gave the fans their money's worth with their performances.

Bad luck for Vettel but his misfortune was just the kind of boost the sport needed for his advantage in the standings was getting too big >>> which isn't good for competition.

Shame, Maldonado and Bottas didn't get the last point for Williams, they were so close and yet so far.

Anyway, that was a thoroughly enjoyable race for me because it took the concept of unpredictability to a whole new level so we didn't know what was going to happen till the last lap.

P.s.

Interesting, so in the history of Mercedes, Rosberg is the first pilot to have won a race for the team at both Monaco and Silverstone >>> plus China too.

Probably the most interesting and dramatic of the season, but for all the wrong reasons. I have nothing against Pirelli but today it was just too much. I blame FIA because they cannot find a proper way to test these tires. You cannot ask someone to make fragile tires that are always on the limit and don't allow to test them properly.

MERCEDES

Is it just me or Mercedes now looks like the best car? Always P1 on saturday and now it looks like they solved tyre issues on sunday. Say what you want but secret test surely didn't harm.

VETTEL

Some say he is the luckiest driver but can someone count how many times has he retired from the lead. This must be like 5th or 6th time in 4 seasons. I know it keeps championship more interesting but anyway. If he doesn't win in the month of july (again) he will have to fight back like last year, which might be difficult against the mighty Mercedes.

DRIVER OF THE DAY

The entire grid for coping with the tire roulette. But seriously, there lot's of good drives today...

What an irony. You choose to remark on the fact that ALO managed to get 3rd through impressive racing, overtakes and taking risks, while for once having luck in the process - you mark that as LUCKY.

But, in your eagerness for making a (none)point , you forget the reason why he needed to have luck in the first place - The FACT that, once again, he was given a car that was MORE THAN ONE SECOND slower on qualy than the cars available to the others. A car that could not manage better than 10th and 12th on the starting grid.

One tip for you - get used to it. Not the first time and unfortunately will not be the last that The Great will have to drag a (Ferrari) donkey to the podium!

"I blame FIA because they cannot find a proper way to test these tires."

Who are they trying to fool? Every Grand Prix they get data from each driver, each driving about 1000 kilometers, year after year. If they still don't know how to build a proper tyre, they don't deserve a place in Formula One.

Exciting race, and great reporting as-ever. I wondered whether the increased tyre pressures may have had an impact on Vettel's failure? Presumably firmer tyres would pass more stresses and strains into the drivetrain than tyres at a lower pressure. Maybe an increase of 2PSI isn't enough of a pressure change to do this, but then if it's enough to reduce the contact patch and reduce lateral flexing then it's going to reduce the damping of the tyres. Any thoughts James?

Point 4 isn't so clear cut. Cars dropping back or out with tyre problems, safety cars, and RB's good strategy vs the what some others were on, etc. And of course aside from his abysmal start, Webber put in a fantastic drive (as he tends to at Silverstone). If the RB is so superior, how did Hamilton utterly ruin both RB's in quali, and then lead the first part of the race, opening up a decent gap to Vettel? We've seen what Vettel can do when the RB is the superior car, i.e. 2011.

Have you not been reading the BBC and Sky formula 1 websites? Both have posts of Horner, among others, decrying the tyres as dangerous, saying Alonso could have been seriously injured if he had been struck by a piece of tyre. Rosbergs tyre wear was better than Vettels, Hamilton was flying all race, pre and post puncture, and their car has had 5 poles, Vettels poles have come in changeable conditions. I'd say the Merc was the best car this weekend.

Agree on everything except #3. Ferrari have the best race car barring this race. Alonso could keep playing down his team and car for all the much he could, but the evidence is right there. May be he cannot qualify fast enough! And having a donkey on the second car doesn't provide any proper reference to how much faster the car could be on Saturdays. Ferrari really need a good 2nd driver in the current F1 to push for results.

Lotus and Ferrari call to block changes totally backfired. It is pretty obvious that Mercs gained a lot with the secret test. It would have been an awesome race to watch with vettel and hamilton fighting for the lead, had it not been down to tire issues.

Some great action, especially the final 10 laps. But the tire failures... These incidents may put paid to the testing restrictions, probably should. It looks like the MB 1K did Pirelli no good for current tire safety, whatever data they may have gained for next season.

On safety grounds, the FIA should announce that all teams can conduct testing right there at Silverstone, starting tomorrow, at whatever mileage they choose. Give everyone an exemption on engine allocation to do so, but let them sort these tire problems before next race.

I must add that tire problems or not, for McLaren to be sandwiched between Force India and Torro Rosso in the WCC, with the former likely to open that gap and the latter likely to close it on present form; well, that just beats all.

Don't count on that. I could say Lewis could have taken his second win at Silverstone had it not been the tyre failure. Rosberg deserves the win because he was at the right place at the right time. I pity Vettel and Lewis today because they were the biggest losers of the whole drama.

I think it's interesting that there were no such incidents of tyre delamination (read: destruction) in the support races of GP2 which to my knowledge use the same spec tyres as F1. So perhaps a mixture of the higher track temperature this afternoon, higher mass and speeds of the cars played their part? That said.. The hottest English afternoon can't compare to Malaysia.. Great drives by the top bunch esp. Webber and the resurgence of Hamilton for the short sprint at the end!

More extreme setups in F1 for sure. GP2/GP3 also run Perelli tires but with less downforce. A few teams have also been running super low tire pressures = more flex in the sidewall. Saw something similar but for different reasons a few years ago when extreme camber angles from some teams were causing blistering on the front tires.

Ever since the "secret illegal tyre test" Mercedes have looked very, very strong. A win in Monaco, a podium n Montreal, and now a win in Silverstone. They have to be be favorites to win the WCC (and possibly the WDC) on this form.

Nothing like illegally colluding with the FIA and the tyre maker to sort out your problems I guess.

Mark destroyed NR at the end so there is no way to know for sure what Seb could have done to Lewis, any time NR closed on Seb he was able to respond and I suspect he was driving within himself because of the tyre issues. It would have been great to watch though.

That was sad to see. That was Hamilton's race today. All spoilt however due the lottery of who's tyre was going to explode. I hope he gets his much deserved race win soon.

And well done teams / FIA for not allowing Perreli to do something about the tyres. God only knows what's going to happen in the remaining races. Today F1 got away lightly. Another day and someone is going to get hurt.

Still at least Hamilton did manange to back up to forth, and there was quite a lot of action going on up and down the field. And Hamilton could have even had Alonso at the end, despite Alonso having a fresher set of tyres.

Time for the teams to stop dicking about and allow Pirelli to introduce the modified tire construction that they have not been able to introduce. My sympathy for the teams is limited since when it comes to tires, they couldn't even find the brewery much less organize the piss-up...

Ross is an evil genius, a brilliant tricky maneuver that will definitely will come to full circle come Germany. Hamilton and Rosberg are not really that big of a factor now except for the added familiarity of the car through the legal 1000 km test, its all about their car showing its full potential in the best possible venue they could ever dreamed of, Mercedes in Germany, with a German driver.

Several days ago, I told y'all that bad luck would eventually hit Vettel. It is called karma. You don't disobey team order and screw over your teammate for the win in Malaysia and not expect something bad to happen to you.

Yes, some of y'all will point out that Webber disobeyed team-order too, but does two wrongs make Vettel's action right? Shumacher did a lot of underhanded things in his F1 career, but I don't think he ever screwed over his own teammate.

Be honest, how many of y'all cheered when Vettel's car started slowing down? The fans at the race certainly

Mark disobeyed a team order in silent stone 2 years ago and attacked Seb, British fans an absolute disgrace today. I would 100% understand if a brittish driver had taken the lead or was in the battle. It's time like this I'm proud to be not brittish.

It's not karma, it's random acts of misfortune, of which Vettel has had his fair share despite an attempt by some to brand him lucky and devalue his achievements.

I was amused at one of the drivers (?JEV) during the drivers' parade while parroting the usual inane diplomatic answers single out the good old British fans for praise for their support of "all" the drivers. Unless you happen to be German, I suppose.

Gutierez had a front tyre explosion. That bursts the fulcrum of your argument.

Also, if you've watched car racing for any length of time, kerbs have always been used. They will be used in the next race too and forever after that. It is a fact of motor racing, if Pirelli's tyres cannot cope with it, then they need to admit failure and walk the plank.

Delaminations are the topic of the day, but I find it quite interesting how, in the first race on a real racing track with fast corners since the illegal test by Mercedes, there were no signs of any tyre degradation problems for Merc. They were clearly faster than Ferrari and Lotus without any signs of dramatic loss of performance like earlier in the season. Does anyone still believe they got no advantage from the test?

So, you say that Mercedes learnt nothing about the tires in 3 years and magically found the fix in the 1000km test? Merc have been improving for a while now on their tire consumption - Barcelona aside.

Are you technically saying they got caught cheating and got away basically unscathed? You are such a hamilton/rosberg hater! Why can you let these guys win? Its totally fine to break the rules and basically gain a huge amount of unfair advantage, i mean, hamilton is the best driver ever in the world if we give him a second a lap faster than its competitors, thats just a beast of a "talent" that guy, and Nico is right there with him. Please let us get at least one constructors championship, even once,allow us to use all the "cheatery" available and let us win a real f1 drivers championship in the modern era through unrealistic means? Stop the hate, merc the best of all time ever!

Incorrect. The last race before the test was Barcelona, in which Mercedes took home 8th and 12th positions after locking the front row. That has been their whole season before the test. Since the test, we had two street circuits (Monaco and Canada), which hide tyre degradation issues somewhat, and now Silverstone, where they were clearly a lot faster than either Ferrari or Lotus without any problems with tyre degradation. That is not a gradual, steady process, there has been a dramatic improvement in the race pace/tyre degradation handling of the Mercedes car since the test.

I seem to recall they actually did very well prior to Barcelona too so their performance has really been up and down quite a bit. Yes I'm surprised they did so well at Silverstone but then again every team apart from Ferrari seems to improve so no reason why Mercedes couldn't improve. Still not convinced that they have completely solved their tyre problems.

How could 3 day tyre test solve Merc tyre deg.? I don't believe that their controlled tyre deg (as it seems) is down to the 3 day test, because if 3 days test was what they needed to solve their tyre deg., then their problem could have been solved long before Barcelona test. If you are pointing Monaco, Canada and Silverstone podiums as your reason, don't forget that Lewis had been on Podium twice before the private test. It's a gradual process. Did they learn anything from the test! I believe so. But was the test the silver bullet to their recent success, I totally disagree.

Canada 2010 was made exciting due to the tyres falling apart due to an overly abrasive surface, damaged by frost the previous winter, and a very hot day. When the FIA asked Pirelli to repeat those conditions they couldn't make the tarmac more abrasive or the air hot at every track, so they had to make the tyres more sensitive to high temps and the rubber less resistant to shearing forces so that it wears.

The FIA and the teams are the ones who will not allow Pirelli to test the tyres on a current car for meaningful distances and in varied conditions. When Goodyear, Bridgestone and Michelin were suppliers teams tested for thousands of miles at multiple circuits on different cars. Bridgestone were known to turn up at Fiorano with enough tyres to go through potentially hundreds of different construction and compound permutations for M Schumacher to try. The test mileages pre-season were near to a full season's mileage per team. The tyres were near-perfect.

Pirelli are being asked to produce an inferior product and then not allowed to test it correctly on some of the most brutal racing cars around. I have every sympathy for Pirelli, they were doomed from the start.

Vettel only inherited the lead from Hamilton's misfortune with the tyre so you should be the one to stop moaning Val. All I can say is this race was hilarious. All of the title contenders had some misfortune, Alonso had a tyre failure multiple close calls and pitted to lose 5 places because of the safety car. The good news? The finger went limp in Britain today! Yes boys, yes! Finally his other nine fingers won't feel left out. Finally the bad luck falls on him, [mod]

LOL mechanical reliability is not the only for of luck. Why can't Vettel fans just admit that he is incredibly lucky, so much so that its kind of strange. Never seen a driver with more love from the gods than him, and I've watched a lot of racing.

He's also had the fastest car over the last 4 years partly because of newey it is somewhat fragile but fast. Hamilton or Alonso would easily choose to drive his car instead, so its a moot point? Why not bring up the mechanical DNFs of Williams and Caterham too? All you have to look at is last years last race where he could crash into Senna and speed markers and still drive on problem free. I guess for things to be fair he needs the fastest car and one that matches the most reliable slow car on the grid?